Elderly woman choked in Boynton Beach home invasion

Suspect ditched by driver, caught after failed bid to run, cycle and swim from cops

(Brett Clarkson, South Florida…)

July 25, 2012|By Brett Clarkson, Sun Sentinel

BOYNTON BEACH — It was a desperate running of the robbery triathlon.

After robbing and attacking an elderly woman in her home in the 1600 block of Southwest 22nd Avenue on Wednesday, burglary suspect Derek T. Tanksley tried to elude cops by running, cycling and even swimming in a local canal after the 9 a.m. home invasion.

Ditched inexplicably in mid-burglary by Montarris M. Raiford, 38, suspected of being the getaway driver, Tanksley, 25, emerged from the victim's house carrying a TV under his arm with nowhere to put it, police said.

Tanksley started sprinting, dropping the TV behind a nearby house. When he got tired, police said, he stole a bike and rode it up to Woolbright Avenue before jumping into a canal and making it to the other side.

That's when police arrested him.

The victim, 78, was recovering Wednesday after she was briefly hospitalized for neck and back injuries. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In an arrest report, police said the victim was on her bed at about 9 a.m. when she heard a clicking sound. She got up only to find Tanksley coming out of the bathroom. He grabbed her by the neck, held her and threw her on to the bed. The victim said she briefly went unconscious. When she awoke she saw a car leaving her neighbor's driveway.

Friends and neighbors in the quiet Boynton Beach Leisureville community said they were stunned by the audacity of the crime. Carried out in broad daylight, the robbers went to work in full view of neighbors and landscaping crews.

"People have to be really brazen to pull something like this in the early morning," said Nancy Horan, a 10-year resident of the community.

Horan said she was "very sad" that her close friend had been attacked.

"She's a lovely, lovely lady, kind-hearted, good, would do anything for anybody, a gentle soul," Horan said, describing the victim as a "little bitty person."

According to an arrest report and a neighbor who watched the robbery unfold, Raiford and Tanksley pulled up in a black Chrysler Pacifica, parking in a neighbor's empty driveway.

The neighbor, who did not want to give her name over fears for her own safety, described the incident as "surreal."

A young, slight man with a white tank top and baggy pants walked over to the side of the victim's house, she said. He simply pulled a screen off a side window and climbed in.

Then the Pacifica drove off.

Within three minutes, Tanksley came out to find himself abandoned by his partner, police said. That's when he starting running, they said.

The neighbor rushed over to comfort the victim, who came out of her house looking shaken up.

"She said, 'He held me so tight, I thought I was going to die.' That's exactly what she said," the neighbor said.

Cops arrested Raiford in a traffic stop.

Police said they found about $2,000 worth of jewelry in Tanksley's pockets when he was arrested.

Tanksley is charged with home invasion, battery on a person over 65, false imprisonment, grand theft, and resisting arrest without violence.

Raiford, of Shoma Drive in Wellington, is charged with home invasion, battery on a person over 65, false imprisonment, and grand theft.

Both were still in custody Wednesday.

"It was a great job by everybody, including the neighbors," said Boynton Beach Police Department spokesperson Officer Jaclyn Smith, speaking of the arrest.

Janet and Roger Antonellis, who have lived in the community for two years, said that even though their neighborhood is usually trouble-free, they'll be more careful.

"We're going to be a lot more vigilant, a lot more aware," Roger Antonellis said.